Advertising campaign benchmarks
Shopify Audiences uses benchmarks to compare the performance of your store's advertising campaigns relative to other Shopify stores. This data includes performance from all your campaigns during that time, not just those targeting Shopify audiences.
The benchmarks section provides the following information:
- A benchmarks summary: A rolling 30 days of your campaign performance.
- A benchmarks trends report: A report with up to 1 year of past campaign benchmark data.
Benchmarks data is made up of other Shopify Audiences app users who have turned on data sharing and connected their ad platform accounts. You can compare your data using the similar store or the industry benchmarks.
On this page
Requirements for using benchmarks
Advertising benchmark metrics display when the your store meets the following requirements:
- You have connected your Meta account more than 48 hours ago.
- You have at least 20 conversions attributed to Meta ads in the last 30 days.
- You haven't paused your current ad campaign within the last 30 days.
- There are enough similar stores in your benchmark cohort to provide a meaningful benchmark. A benchmark might not be available if there isn't a sufficient number of similar stores to yours.
If you believe you meet these qualifications but still don't have benchmarks displayed, then report the issue using this form.
Available benchmark metrics
Benchmark data is available for the following metrics:
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| Average order value | Your sales divided by the number of orders placed that are attributed to an ad. |
| Click through rate | The number of clicks your ads received divided by the number of impressions. |
| Conversion rate | The number of orders attributed to an ad divided by the number of clicks the ad received. |
| Cost per 1000 impressions | The average cost you've paid for 1000 impressions on your ads. |
| Cost per click | The average cost you've paid for each click on your ads. |
| Cost per acquisition | The average cost you've paid for each order attributed to your ads. |
Similar store benchmarks
A similar store cohort is automatically generated for your store, which includes a select group of merchants. These benchmarks are created based on Shopify stores most similar to yours. The following factors are considered in defining similarity:
- Average order value of the stores
- Types of products sold
To compare your performance against similar stores, select Similar stores on the toggle in the benchmarks section. You can view a 30 day summary, or click through a row on the table to view a trends report up to 1 year in the past.
Industry benchmarks
Industry benchmarks are made up of Shopify merchants that sell products within defined categories.
There are 16 industry categories available:
- Animals & Pet Supplies
- Apparel & Accessories
- Clothing
- Jewelry
- Shoes
- Food & Beverages
- Food items
- Beverages
- Furniture
- Health & Beauty
- Cosmetics
- Hair care
- Fitness & Nutrition
- Home & Garden
- Sporting Goods
- Vehicles & Parts
Add industries
To compare your performance to specific industries, select the industries that you sell in. You can change your selected industries at any time.
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Apps and sales channels.
Click Shopify Audiences.
Click Open app.
Navigate to the Meta section.
Select Industries on the toggle in the benchmarks section.
Add industries and select the industries that your store sells in and click Save. Your industries will be saved so you can quickly access them when you're using Shopify Audiences.
Switch between your selected industries by clicking on the industry dropdown.
You can view a 30 day summary, or click through a row on the table to view a trends report up to 1 year in the past.
Filter by average order value (AOV)
Each industry category has multiple average order value (AOV) bands. These bands, which you can use to filter your data, vary based on the AOVs of the stores within each industry.
AOV can significantly influence your target advertising metrics. For example, if your products have a higher price point, resulting in a higher AOV, then it's likely that your cost per acquisition will also be higher.
The filter will automatically default to the band that your store falls into. However, you can manually select any available AOV band to compare your performance against stores with other AOVs.
Benchmark trends report
The trends report provides insight into how your store's ad performance has evolved over time compared to similar stores. Data is provided at a monthly grain and will display up to 1 year of past data. If you haven’t met all the requirements for a period, then the trends report might have data gaps.
To review a trends report, click a row in the table in the benchmarks section. In the report, you can select different metrics to view the performance.
Reading the trends graph
For each benchmark metric, three numbers are included that compare your store to similar stores. These numbers are: median, 25th percentile, and 75th percentile.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Median | The value that represents the midpoint of stores. This value is outperformed by 50% of the cohort. |
| 25th percentile | The value that represents the 25th percentile of stores. This value is outperformed by 75% of the cohort. |
| 75th percentile | The value that represents the 75th percentile of stores. This value is outperformed by 25% of the cohort. |
A higher average order value, click through rate, or conversion rate results in a higher percentile ranking. For these metrics, the 75th percentile will be higher and the 25th percentile will be lower on the graph.
On the other hand, a lower cost per 1000 impressions, cost per click, or cost per acquisition results in a higher percentile ranking. For these metrics, the 75th percentile will be lower and the 25th percentile will be higher on the graph.